While stories of sexual abuse are deeply seeded in the roots of the church, it seems that when these stories cross borders and oceans, it’s from the Catholic Church. This time, though, the Daily Mail (DM) has uncovered a massive case of corruption and coverups with the Mormons. With incest and sexual abuse at the heart of the case, the information that made it to them is damning. Yet, if you’re familiar with the stories of their “outlier” organizations, it’s not surprising.
In the paperwork provided to the outlet, rampant coverups of explicit sexual perversion are described, with leaders thoroughly covering it up. In protecting the assailants, anyone who raises a question is silenced and told they were in the wrong for speaking up. This misuse and abuse of position and power has, in turn, left victims crying at the church and being forced to apologize for their transgressions. Begging for forgiveness, they are forced to paint the story with the color their assailants choose. They are to leave the police out of it and are brainwashed against speaking up.
Over the years, the Mormons have been the crux of multiple allegations, but always have been able to deflect them as rumors, a misguided soul lying, or blames on someone who “was” Mormon. Going too far then forced the organization to abandon them. Yet now the DM has put together one hell of a case against them.
Starting their investigation was the early November case in Arizona, where a judge ruled that the church was under no obligation to report sexual abuse of a minor to police. Coming during a spiritual confession, the assailant admitted he had been sexually abusing his daughter. Yet, the court deemed it to be privileged information, and they were bound by religious duties to keep that secret. According to victims, this was the response they had gotten for years, and it gave local bishops, regular men with no pastoral training, massive power.
Confirmed by church elders as being called by God, their word was above reproach, and they were cleared for whatever they did as the spiritual revelations that guided them were considered to be the word and actions of a just God. For younger assailants, the Mormon church would send them off on their missionary programs to avoid problems with the law. Escaping persecution, they would be kept away and allowed to continue abusing people unchecked.
In Oregon, the church is alleged to have allowed over 200 women to be sexually abused by Dr David Farley. He was a Harvard graduate, considered a leader in the church, and was widely regarded as an esteemed counselor. He provided unchecked access to these women under the guise of their physician; his methods were perverse and not medically correct.
For one 15-year-old girl who came complaining of stomach pain, he stuck an ungloved finger up her backside to “examine” her. At a later appointment, he used a digitally connected apparatus to break the hymen of this young virgin. He claimed it was so her future husband wouldn’t hurt her, and claimed it would ultimately make sex pleasurable for her. For two years, she was subjected to this torture.
Retiring before his license was revoked, he has remained in the church, with Mormon leaders refusing to look into the case. According to the victims, he relocated to Idaho, then Utah. With nothing stopping him from practicing quietly, they worry he could be doing this to more girls there.
For Kathleen Wallace, 39, and her sister Rebecca Welch, 48, the abuse didn’t come from a foreign church elder. Instead, it came from a close family member. According to Welch, the abuse began at age 4 and continued until she was 11. At 15, riddled with guilt and shame, she spoke with a church counselor about the abuse. Scheduled to meet with a local bishop, it was decided that since he was away on a mission, it would be embarrassing to bring him home early, and they should just keep it between themselves for now.
As Welch added, “I remember the bishop saying something about arresting a returned missionary the moment he stepped off the plane and that he didn’t feel like that would be a good thing for anyone.” Instead of being arrested, he simply moved on to Wallace. Much like her sister, at 11, she realized how wrong it was and spoke up. That opened the floodgates with her parents. They were done with the church and this abuse. Instead of fixing anything, the church just paid for counseling until that got too much for them.
Finally facing the music, there are likely to be hundreds if not thousands more cases that will come forward by the end of the year. The decades of abuse by the Catholic church rocked it to its core years ago, and now the Mormons are finally getting theirs. It’s a wonder it took this long.
